V. I. Lenin

On the Question of the Bureau’s Next Steps

Written:Written not later than December 1 (14), 1918Published:First published in 1961 in Vol. 24 of the Fifth Russian edition of theCollected Works.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1977,

      Moscow,Volume 41,

      pages299-300.1.Translated:Yuri SdobnikovTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaCopyleft:V. I. Lenin Internet Archive (www.marxists.org)
      © 2004

      Permission is granted to copy and/or distribute this document under the
      terms of theGNU Free Documentation License.

Anumber of groups abroad, big, small and tiny, are making
a lot of noise over the forthcoming sitting of the International Socialist
Bureau on December 1
(14).{1}By the time Tuesday’s edition is out there will perhaps be
some news, by cable, of the Bureau’s decision. I believe it to be my duty,
therefore, to describe the state of affairs so as to prevent any false
rumours and to make it possible to adopt the right tone at once.

Thesmall and tiny groups abroad, who have no support in Russia (like
Rosa Luxemburg and the Tyszka people, or Charles Rappoport, who recently
wrote in a small French paper in the same spirit, or Alexinsky and theVperyodgroup in Paris, etc., etc.), all these little groups are
straining hard to have the Bureau take a vote for “unity”.

Ofcourse, we too want unity!! The efforts of the little groups are a
pathetic move to protect the liquidators. This move of theirs will fail:
they will make a fuss and that’s as far as it will go.

Whatdecision will the Bureau take? That is, of course, something we
don’t know. But we were told by avery prominentmember (or even a
group of members) thatf o r  f o r m a l  r e a s o n sthe idea is to admit the
liquidator O.C.,i n s t e a d  o fPlekhanov, and from the Duma group,o n l ythe Seven, or rather the Eight. These formal reasons are
as follows: the parliamentary groups in every country donotrepresent the parties, butonly themselves; let us say there are
eight Socialist-Revolutionaries and seven Social-Democrats—thenonlythe eightS.R.s.are sent in. Since
that is so (that will be verified), nothing can, of course, be donef o r  t h e  t i m e  b e i n g.  Let the liquidators throw
out Plekhanov—we shall seewhether this is going to do them any
good!!!I am Sure that itwilnot.

Thatis why I strongly suggest that there should be no nervousness or
excitement, either over the rumours being spread by the liquidators, or
over any possible Bureau decisions. We have taken steps to have the reports
onRussianaffairs from London writtenthrough us(about
non-Russian affairs directly to
you)—c a l m l ywait for them and youwill find that there was no need for any trip and that neither the barking
nor the Bureau will rescue the “drowning men” (the liquidators).

Thereisprivateinformation that Plekhanov is not going.

Thisshould not be printed just yet. I repeat: calmly wait for reports
fromyour owncorrespondent.

{1}The December session of the International Socialist Bureauwas
held in London on December 13 and 14, 1913, and discus ad the unification
of the British socialist and labour parties, the Vienna Congress, Russian
affairs, etc. The question of uniting the Social-Democratic Party in Russia
was brought up for debate just before the session closed. In view of the
late hour, the question was not discussed in detail, and the Bureau
confined itself to adopting a resolution motioned by Kautsky on behalf of
the German delegation. It authorised the Executive Committee of the
I.S.B. to call a conference of representatives of “all the factions of the
working-class movement in Russia, including Russian Poland, who accept the
Party Programme or whose programmes are in accord with the
Social-Democratic Programme, for an exchange of opinion (Aussprache) over
the issues on which they are divided”. Motivating the resolution, Kautsky
said on December 1 (14) that the old Social-Democratic Party in Russia was
dead. It was necessary to revive it, relying on the Russian workers’ desire
for unity. In his article “A Good Resolution and a Bad Speech”, Lenin
analysed the content of the resolution and said Kautsky’s speech was a
monstrous one

(see present edition, Vol. 19, pp. 528–30).

Writing to Inessa Armand of the issue ofVorw\"artswhich carriedKautsky’s statement, Lenin said: “You should get hold of it and organise a
protest campaign. We aref o ran exchange of opinion,f o rthe resolution of the I.S.B.—this NB—but we are
absolutely against Kautsky’s scoundrelly phrase. He should be beaten
unmercifully for this”

(present edition, Vol. 35, p. 130).

In a letter to the Bolshevik section in Paris, Lenin wrote: “It is most
desirable that thesectionshould adopt as l a s h i n gresolution against Kautsky (calling his statement
about the Party’s death,shameless, brazen, monstrous, ignorant)”
(Fifth Russian edition of theCollected Works, Vol. 48, p. 254).

Thesame sitting of the I.S.B. en December 1 (14) heard Plekhanov’s
letter saying that the split in the Duma group, which had taken place
through the fault of the liquidators, was a blow at the unity of the labour
movement and led him to resign as the representative of the whole Party in
the I.S.B. His place on the I.S.B. was taken fry P. B. Axelrod, a
representative of the liquidationist Organising Committee.

Atthe conference held in Brussels in July 1914, under the
I.S.B. decision, the leaders of the Second International, on the pretext of
“reconciling” the Bolsheviks and the liquidators, demanded that the
Bolsheviks should stop criticising the latter. The Bolsheviks refused to do
so and continued their relentless struggle against the liquidators, who
were enemies of the labour movement.

p. 299